I’ve been pondering the pros and cons of starting up based on an unoriginal idea. It sounds bad when you hear it, as I think the startup culture has wrapped entrepreneurship in this bubble that expects new and entirely innovative solutions.

But I can’t help but wonder if an unoriginal idea is underrated. Let me give you a literal example: 37 Signals is asked what their 5, 10, 20 year plan is. Basically, where they see themselves in the near and distant future. I can think of a lot of companies who would ramble about all of these huge and opportunistic things (probably for their shareholders), but I admire the response from 37 Signals.

If you read the whole article, you’ll notice two things.

First, the way 37 Signals plans their stuff out (read: the way they don’t) has really worked for them. Just look at Basecamp. Their style allows them to be pretty flexible. I think this is probably the attitude that most startups share, when compared to corporate culture.

Second, the headline “focus on what won’t change” relates directly to my question of “is unoriginal bad?”

Here’s what 37 Signals said, when asked what their plans for the future involve: “The best business advice I’ve ever heard was this: ‘Focus on the things that won’t change.’ Today and ten years from now people will still want simple things that work. Today and ten years from now people will still want fast software. Today and ten years from now people will still want fair prices. I don’t believe we’ll have a ‘I want complex, slow, and expensive products’ revolution in 2017.”

I think the answer is obvious from this. Unoriginal ideas aren’t actually that bad. I went to a lecture that Jawed Karim gave last year (hosted by UIUC’s ACM Chapter) with a PowerPoint slide that I still have a picture of. The title read: “What’s the next big thing?” Of course, the screen behind him was about 50'x30', so I would probably add a sub-caption: “Read: the next big thing probably isn’t as big as this enormous screen behind me.

Jokes aside, the slide never mentioned the next ‘big thing’ would be original. It said the next killer app is going to take emerging technologies (his example at YouTube was the Flash platform) and making something that was previously difficult easy. Is there necessarily an original idea in there? I didn’t spot it. I just read new technology, and making things easier (I think 37 Signals would tell you the same thing).

I think entrepreneurs risk the equivalent of writer’s block. They get nervous or worried that just because their idea isn’t original, that nobody will like it, or be as impressed to join their startup. On the contrary, I believe if you can take a very common and unoriginal idea (or something that exists everywhere already) and just focus on making it easier, you should be fine. Look at the upside: there’s very little risk, considering you already know there’s a market that nurtures a sustainable business model.

About the Author

Jared Tame is an entrepreneur who has worked with hundreds of clients on website design, marketing, and sales, and currently works with StartPal providing high-quality, low-cost website design and e-commerce solutions to small businesses and startups.